Miami, May 11 (IANS/EFE) Spanish singer-songwriter Alejandro Sanz says he still suffers from stage fright even after 25 years in the music business.

"Nerves are something you have to manage first of all. Facing an audience isn't easy and you never stop feeling nervous before going on stage," the artist said shortly before giving a concert Thursday night in Miami.

"The important thing is to have a good team of people around you and trust they're not going to let you down" and that way you can be sure of giving a good performance, Sanz said.

The 44-year-old Sanz made his remarks during a question-and-answer session with music students from leading universities in South Florida, shortly before giving a concert at American Airlines Arena.

He urged the young people to pursue their dreams and carve out a place for themselves in the notoriously competitive music business.

The artist known for hits such as "Corazon Partio" and "Y, Si fuera ella?" said he got his start in music by chance.

"My mother took my brother and me to a karate academy, but since it was closed she enrolled us in a guitar academy that was right next door," he joked.

He said music has been his "only tool" for getting ahead in his successful career, in which he has won 15 Latin Grammy awards and three Grammys and sold 25 million albums worldwide.

"Writing a song is like making a stew," Sanz said laughing when asked about his creative inspiration.

"You have to have a lot of ingredients. It's not enough to have meat and potatoes," adding that "everything that provokes an emotional response is valid in writing a song".

"Normally, I improvise on guitar or piano. I build a structure and at the end I put in the lyrics. I get a certain pleasure out of fitting words in where they don't really fit, and that motivates me to keep writing songs," Sanz said of his method.